In response to the Bloganuary prompt “What language do you wish you could speak”, I’m writing about my ever-changing language bucket list. For those that followed on the Bloganuary link, I’ve had a lifelong dream to be able to speak multiple languages, and this blog is documenting the beginning of my journey to becoming a polyglot.

Since discovering the magic of comprehensible input and realising that acquiring a second language in adulthood was actually possible and not a complete fantasy, my list has grown considerably. Each polyglot event also tends to add a language or two to the list!

When I say ever-changing, I mostly mean in order of priority. My list is actually three lists: definitely, really interested in, and a bit interested in. For some of the languages I would be happy just reaching conversational level; for others I want to really master. There are examples of both in my definitely list, which is the only one I’m sharing today.

First, though, let’s look at what puts a particular language on my list.

Contributing Factors to My Interest in a Language

• Fiction

As a fiction writer and fiction nerd, if I fall in love with a story that is related to the language in some way, or decide to create characters who could speak it or have ties to the culture, it goes on the list. This is pretty much guaranteed.

• Having studied it before

I retained hardly anything from my various school lessons. I did German club for a year in primary school and French and Spanish at secondary school—a specialist language school at that—and still left only able to speak English. Although I never planned on going back to them before a couple of years ago, the frustration over my lack of French ability is what pushed me in 2020 to have another go at it; a path which led me to Alice Ayel and the lightbulb moment.

It’s only very recently I renewed my interest in German, actually, but the fact that I failed to retain anything except a nursery rhyme from my German Club has been part of my motivation. Just goes to show, that music is a much more effective learning tool than memorising vocabulary. Having not touched German since, it’s the only reason I can count from 1 to 10 in it!

• Family connections

Linguistically, I always felt my family was a bit boring. We’re all monolingual, with no obvious connections to non-English-speaking cultures. I remember as a child getting very excited when it transpired there was a chance my great-grandmother might have been from Italian descent. (Or possibly German.)

However, my mum has studied French and Russian; she’s not a confident speaker but can understand a lot more than I currently can of either. Her interest in Russian was probably the root of my initial interest in it, and wanting to be able to catch up with her French level was one of the factors in why I chose French as my first language to try acquiring.

Spanish also jumped onto my list when I had a niece with a Mexican grandparent. She doesn’t currently have much or any exposure to Spanish, though my brother and I have discussed finding good Spanish content for her.

• Others

There are many other factors why a language might go on my list. An interest in the culture. Wanting to support a minority or endangered language. Just liking the way it sounds, or the name of it, or the writing system. Getting a taste of it, e.g. in a free class at a polyglot event.

A few examples: I fell in love with Japanese food, which sparked my interest in Japanese and Japan (which is now at the top of my travel bucket list). Welsh initially stemmed from a fiction interest, but I also fell in love with a Welsh folk song that sounds like a lullaby, and love the sound of the language. My interests in Georgian and Korean simply came from aesthetic appeal of the writing system.

And so, with no further ado, my list! Hyperlinked languages are ones I’ve actually started, all currently at beginner level.

Definitely Want to Acquire (full current list)

• Ukrainian (at least fluency)
• French (at least fluency)
• Japanese (near-native level)
• Spanish (at least fluency)
• Welsh (near-native level)
• Te reo Māori (at least fluency)
• Russian (haven’t decided)
• Icelandic (at least fluency)
• Norwegian (haven’t decided)
• Greek (haven’t decided)
• Irish (haven’t decided)
• German (at least conversational)
• Italian (at least conversational)
• Sinhala (conversational—for writing purposes)

So … yeah, that’s a long list in itself. Though as you’ve seen, I have different target levels for each language. List, target level and order on the list is subject to change as my life, priorities and interests change—plus, some languages it makes sense to start acquiring before others, regardless of how keen I am to begin them. I learned that lesson with Russian and Ukrainian recently.

Japanese and Welsh are the ones I’ve been (consistently) interested in for the longest, so they mean a lot to me. Where with everything else there will probably come a point where I’ll decide “that’s good enough” and just practise enough to stay on that level, I think I’ll always want to keep improving those ones. Hence, the high bar!

Final Note

I have learned so much about how to approach a new language in the last couple of years. If anyone reading this is completely new to the concepts I’ve mentioned and wishes they could speak another language but feel like it’s beyond them, please do get in contact. I can’t promise to solve every problem, but I can probably point you in the right direction!